Long Nights
by INMH
Summary: For the hc bingo prompt "Undeserved Reputation", and lover100, prompt "Night". Spoilers for 10.20 "Dominion". Tess gets some company on one of the nights she spends at the Watchtower waiting for Clark and Oliver to come back.


Long Nights

**Rating:** PG/K+

**Genre:** Hurt/Comfort/Romance/Humor

**Summary:** For the hc_bingo prompt "Undeserved Reputation", and lover100, prompt "Night". Spoilers for 10.20 "Dominion". Tess gets some company on one of the nights she spends at the Watchtower waiting for Clark and Oliver to come back.

**Author's Note:** AH, I love this pairing. I do. And I love putting more of it into the world.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Smallville. It belongs to Alfred Gough, Miles Millar and the CW.

()()

It had been a week and a half since Clark and Oliver disappeared.

Tess and Lois had been taking turns at the Watchtower, waiting for them to either return or somehow make contact. Tess didn't know how strong of a chance either of those scenarios had of happening, but she wasn't about to make any negative statements to Lois. She wasn't certain if the brunette still had that gun or not.

It was Tuesday, very soon to be Wednesday, and Tess was trying to keep busy updating software, archiving, all around her attempts to somehow make contact with Clark and Oliver again. She had had no luck thus far, and had a strong suspicion that she'd have bags under her eyes again when she went into the Planet the next morning.

All the while, Tess stewed in her guilt for disobeying Clark's order, her guilt for ever actually thinking that she could destroy the gate, her guilt over every bad thing she'd done in the past that had apparently given Lois cause to accuse her of turning her back on the team at large and almost shoot her.

_No, no, no more self-loathing inner-monologues. Focus on something else. **Anything** else. _

That distraction came in the form of another check of the police-scanners to see if anything bad was happening. Clark and Oliver might be gone (for now, hopefully just for now) but the world still needed protecting, and there were still heroes around that could do that: If anything, Booster had been getting on her last nerve dropping by, hitting on her, asking if he could help, hitting on her, wanting to know where Clark was, hitting on her-

Tess was not overly-fond of Booster.

She glanced at the clock on the wall: 11:49. She would probably spend whatever time she spent sleeping that night on the Watchtower's couch, and would return to her apartment after only a few hours of sleep to shower and change clothes before going into work. A week of this had been bad enough, Tess wasn't certain she'd be able to handle her current schedule much longer.

The sound of the door opening behind her snapped her out of a haze she hadn't been aware she'd been in, and Tess turned to see who had arrived (Praying it wasn't Lois, because things were uncomfortable at best with them at the moment).

It was Emil. He had been in Star City for some kind of medical conference for the past week and a half; at one time Tess had known what the subject of that conference had been, but at the moment she was too tired and distracted to recall it. "What brings you here?" She asked, blinking the sleep out of her eyes and stepping away from the monitors.

"Lois informed me of the situation." He held up the paper bag in his right hand and raised an eyebrow at her. "Hungry?"

And that was how Tess found herself eating Chinese food at midnight in the Watchtower with Emil. As odd as it might sound, it was probably the most relaxed Tess had been in the last week. She filled him in on more of the technical specifics of their efforts to retrieve Oliver and Clark, and he listened patiently. She couldn't help but notice that he didn't eat as much as she did, and had a sneaking suspicion that he'd brought the food more for her than the both of them.

"Clark told me to destroy the crystal if he and Oliver weren't back within a certain amount of time- He said he didn't want anything getting out of the Phantom Zone that way, that the last time they did things got very bad very fast. I put the timer on, but Lois figured out what I was doing and stopped me."

Emil nodded. "Lois failed to tell me about what happened prior to the two of you waiting and hoping for contact. I imagine she wasn't happy with the plan."

"She pulled a gun on me and threatened to shoot." Emil's smile was pained.

"You're not unique in that respect, I'm afraid: She once held a scalpel to my throat with the implicit threat of cutting me if I didn't tell her where Clark was." Tess's eyes widened, and his smile grew a little as he shook his head. "Never get between Lois and Clark."

"So I've learned."

There was some silence for a time after that. Tess kept her eyes on her food, because while time had healed the worst of the embarrassment from the party she and Emil had still managed to turn the creation of awkward silences into an art-form. _Every_ silence that happened between them somehow managed to become awkward. The elephant in the room would just walk right on over and plop down between them. They never _had_ really discussed what had happened.

Maybe it was Tess more so than Emil who found the silence uncomfortable, because it always seemed to be she was the one that started up a conversation out of nothing, out of desperation to make the awkwardness go away. She started to pull for topics, running over them in her mind but finding only a bare few that she actually wanted to have a discussion about.

Tess considered, prodded at her food for a moment, and then sat back. "Did I make the right call? Not destroying the gate?" Emil sighed contemplatively, and gave that a minute or two of thought. In a way, it was more comforting than someone quickly and simply blurting out that yes, of course she had made the right decision, why would she think otherwise?

"From a purely big-picture standpoint," Emil began slowly, "No. Destroying the gate would prevent the wraiths from the Phantom Zone from coming through, and that is something we should avoid at all costs. Clark made a good call in asking you to destroy it."

"Thank you for the honesty." Tess muttered, rubbing her eyes and feeling the guilt start to gnaw away with a vengeance.

"However, both Clark and Oliver are responsible for saving many lives here on Earth. Losing them would also be incredibly bad, though whether or not that compares to anyone escaping from the Phantom Zone is subjective. On a personal level, it wasn't a bad call because they _are_ our friends and we should give them a chance to get back. Clark may not be human- and I can't personally speak to the differences between Kryptonians and humans when it comes to making mistakes- but he was raised as one and is therefore every bit as inclined to err in his judgments as the rest of us." He set his fork down. "And all of that aside, I couldn't blame you even if it was a bad call: Lois is incredibly persuasive with a weapon in her hand."

Tess was quiet. Then, "She accused me of turning my back on Clark and Oliver. That I was supposed to be a member of the team." Out of the corner of her eye, Tess saw Emil cringe a little.

"Ouch."

"Yeah." Her tone was mild, but it stung far worse than Tess was willing to let on. She had genuinely believed that she had earned her place as a member of the team, that she had dispelled any and all doubts about her loyalty. Hell, she even thought she and Lois were starting to become friends. Evidently, she was wrong.

"While your actions would have appeared strange at best, I don't think accusing you of trying to go through with such a plan- and I assume that _she_ was assuming that you had devised the plan all on your own- without being thoughtful of the personal consequences was fair." Tess nodded absently, and she saw him lean forward a bit even though she still wasn't really looking at him. "…But I also imagine hearing that out loud doesn't do much to help the fact that it happened."

Tess smiled tightly. "Not much, though I appreciate the effort."

Emil hesitated, but then put his hand over hers. Tess tried not to appear as surprised at the motion as she was. "All of us- Including Lois- know what kind of person you are, Tess. We established earlier that getting between her and Clark is never a good idea; she wasn't thinking clearly."

"Why are you so confident that you know me?" The question was one that Tess had been burning to ask Emil since the night of the Clark Luthor incident; she had restrained herself because, quite frankly, she didn't know if she wanted to really know the answer to it. But in that moment, it just came tumbling out against her will.

Emil had turned to face her, but he looked at his hand covering hers as he contemplated his answer to that. Tess had to admit that if there was anything she liked about Emil, it was the consideration he gave to his words before he actually opened his mouth. It was a virtue that Oliver had always struggled with when they were dating.

"I've worked with you often enough in the Watchtower," Emil started, "And we've interacted on both a personal and professional level both in and out of the Watchtower in the time that we've known one another." That must be his careful way of dancing around the subject of the bachelor-bachelorette party, because God knew they'd all seen each other's wild sides that night.

"But what did I do to deserve your trust?" Tess pressed. "You know what I've done."

"I do."

"Then why in the hell do you feel like you _know_ me- And I assume you mean in a positive way?"

Emil gave that some thought too, before shrugging. "I don't think it's any one thing. Your actions overall have proven you to be incredibly trustworthy. If I recall correctly, we were both a small step away from being shot by Trotter's men for refusing to give her any information on the team." He paused. "You almost died for the team."

Tess supposed she had. "Hm."

"The point I'm trying to make is that you don't deserve Lois's suspicion. Maybe at one time it would be valid, but it isn't now."

"Maybe, but I'm not exactly going to hold my breath for an apology." She recalled the concussion she'd given Lois that night at the Planet, kidnapping her and taking a peek into her memories. Lois didn't owe any apologies. "And it's not like I haven't expected people to have doubts."

"That would be unrealistic." Emil agreed, and he shifted a bit- He felt a bit closer then, and Tess felt a bit of heat rise in her cheeks. _Stop it, stop it, you're not twelve anymore, this isn't the closest you've ever been to another man-_ "But all the same, you've done more than enough to do away with your old reputation. That deserves to be rewarded with trust."

If there was anything Tess intended to do while on the team, demanding trust from them was the last. She would accept it if they gave it, but- No, she had done too much, hurt them too much between her associations with Lex and Checkmate and Zod. She was in no position to demand anything from them.

Though her cheeks did get a little warmer at the fact that Emil seemed to think she deserved it.

()()

Tess awoke and realized that she was lying with someone.

The events of the previous night came back somewhat quickly, but her mind was still clouded with sleep and her first thought was _Oh no no no please don't tell me we had sex again things were just starting to get __**normal**__ between us-_

She forced herself to full consciousness and opened her eyes. Tess's head was on Emil's chest. They were curled together on the couch, fully clothed, the only sound aside from their breaths being the occasional beep or hum from the computers. Tess couldn't quite recall the events immediately leading up to her falling asleep.

She must have started to doze off; maybe Emil had too. Somehow, they'd ended up like this. How late had it been? One? Two? Later? She started to recall a little bit, remembered drifting off and then waking slightly when she'd felt a kink in her neck. Tess had woken a second time and noticed that Emil was asleep, arms crossed, head bowed. Then, a little while later, she had woken when she'd slipped from her position against the couch cushion and her head collided with what she now knew must have been Emil's shoulder, but Tess had been too tired to care-

Oh. So that's how it happened.

It's a horrible, selfish thought, but Tess was suddenly glad that Clark and Oliver didn't reappear that night (as far as she could tell). Oliver would _never_ have let her- or Emil, for that matter- forget this.

She shifted, glanced down and saw that his arm was curled around her waist. Where Tess had gone a little pink the night before, her cheeks went beet-red this time.

No, no, very thankful Oliver and Clark had not returned. _Never_ would have let them forget. Never. Never ever.

It had occurred to Tess, through their cautious interactions since the bachelor/bachelorette party, that Emil might be feeling something towards her. They had been friendly enough before, and now Emil was even warmer than that. And in all honesty, Tess had never really thought of him romantically prior to the incident; she wasn't quite certain how she felt about that.

Tess glanced at Emil, and then gently reached for the hand _not_ currently resting on her hip, turning his wrist so that she could see his watch: _5:04_. Pretty early- she didn't need to be to work until 8:45, and didn't need to leave for her apartment until maybe six. There was almost an hour between now and then; still, leaving now- or getting up and finding something to do- would prevent the undoubtedly awkward moment of Emil waking up while they were still lying together. They had enough awkward moments to last them a lifetime. They didn't need any more.

Tess slowly started to push herself up; and then trouble struck. Her left arm had been folded beneath her, and as she tried to utilize it, the muscles failed on her and she dropped sharply, accidentally falling right back onto Emil's chest- which, of course, was just the jolt he needed to wake up.

Tess shoved herself into an upright position and squeezed her eyes shut, putting her fingers over them in the dim hope that he would take it as fatigue and not mind-numbing embarrassment. She waited for him to wake completely, and figured that he had done so when he muttered, "Hm, oh, hi Te- _Oh_."

She gave a tight smile and didn't open her eyes or move her hand. "Hi, Emil."

"We, uh-"

"Yeah."

There was a pause. Tess grimaced, waited for the awkward remark that would lead to the awkward getting up and the awkward goodbyes and the awkward walk to her car, because _damn it_, this was the epitome of _awkward_.

And then Emil surprised her with a rare moment of humor: "Well, at least we weren't caught on camera this time."

Tess laughed before she could stop herself, hand dropping away from her face and eyes opening. Emil was smiling, and the joke seemed to break the tension nicely. _What was I worried about, anyway? We didn't sleep together- No, well, we did, but not in the way we did- __**last time**__. There's nothing to be embarrassed about._ Right- Just two friends that had once had sex on an office desk during a night of magic-induced revelry having a nice little nap together.

Tess sobered up a little bit and cleared her throat. "I should- Probably get going." Emil glanced at his watch and shut his eyes in a cringe.

"I was supposed to get going ten minutes ago."

"Sorry, I just woke up-"

"It's not your fault. If I didn't want to worry about being late, I would have slept at home with my alarm clock." And yet he had chosen to keep her company. Tess glanced away.

"Thank you- for staying, for the food, I just-" She waved her hands wordlessly and finally managed to look at him. "It was nice to have some company. The nights have been long and unpleasant." And lonely.

Emil smiled. "Well, if I can find time between my shifts, I'd be more than happy to relieve you and Lois every now and then. Or keep you company again." Maybe she was over-thinking it, but Tess noticed that he did not say 'keep you **two** company'.

"Thanks."

A few minutes later, she left the Watchtower in a far better mood than when she had entered it the night before.

-End

As far as the hc_bingo prompt goes, I took it more as a "No Longer Deserved Reputation" than a strictly "Undeserved Reputation".


End file.
